most new wealth flows it's called a rigged economy, and this is how it works. to the top 1%. it's a system held in place by corrupt politics where wall street banks and billionaires buy elections. my campaign is powered by millions of small contributions. people like you who want to fight back. the truth is you can't change a corrupt system by taking its money. i'm bernie sanders. i approve this message. join us for real change. good afternoon. i'm chris jansing, coming to you live from the urban farmer's steakhouse in downtown cleveland, ohio. a state that's ground zero for a presidential campaign at a crossroads, where tomorrow the

sitting governor, john kasich, looks poised to slow down the trump train. the primary coming at a time when there's great debate across america about the kind of campaign donald trump is running. whether he's channeling legitimate anger against the establishment and washington or feeding it, resulting in chaos and violence. it started with a protester being sucker punched on his way out of a rally last wednesday. then some nasty altercations before and after that canceled rally in chicago on friday. saturday, secret service swarmed trump when a protester rushed the stage in dayton, ohio. there was more unrest that night in kansas city. protests and pepper spray. even today, just a short time ago, protests at his event in hickory, north carolina. but if you ask trump about the recent violence, he calls foul. >> the press is now calling to say, oh, but there's such violence. you know how many people have been hurt at our rallies?

i think like basically none, other than, i guess, maybe somebody got hit once. people say, oh, well, is there violence? there's no violence. these are lovefests. >> trump continues to be unapologetic. his surrogate, ben carson, telling us he thinks we'll see a more measured trump, but he also worries about what will happen if we don't. >> i think, certainly, if the protesters continue with their ilinskiite tactics, there is a real possibility of escalation, bouz those who are the victims of them have two choices. they can submit to them and meekly just do whatever those protesters want them to do, or they can fight back. >> these escalating concerns are dominating the campaign trail in the hours leading up to five primaries that could dramatically affect the course of this race. in ohio, polls show kasich with

victory within his grasp. with him today, mitt romney, not endorsing him, but seeing an opening to beat trump. florida, meantime, looks poised to push home state candidate marco rubio out. now, while both rubio and kasich have suggested they might not support the republican nominee, if it's trump, listen to ted cruz. >> well, i can give you one example, where i would no longer support donald trump. if, for example, he were to go out on fifth avenue and shoot somebody, i would not be willing to support donald trump. >> hillary clinton is going after trump with the medium he has used so effectively, twitter. at one point, an ongoing blast of almost a tweet an hour. >> be prepared to take on the not only wrong-headed statements, but the dangerous ones that he has put out, that will hurt our country around the

world, because i was secretary of state. i know what's at stake for american leadership around the world. >> she's looking to severely damage bernie sanders' chances tomorrow, but his campaign is gaining strength in illinois. and he still believes he has a shot here in ohio. so over the next 60 minutes, we'll be checking in with some of our correspondents, following these key races all across the country. let's start with the donald trump campaign. nbc's katy tur joins me now from vienna, ohio, about 20 minutes away from where trump will be holding an event this weekend. katy, true to form, he's not backing down. >> reporter: no, he's not backing down. we're actually at the events where he will be tonight. he's going to pull up in his airplane right behind us. we are in a hanger, outside of -- we're within youngstown, ohio. it's interesting that he's coming to ohio today, instead of going to the as previously planned stop down outside of miami beach. that is because it is so close in the polling, as you just

said. john kasich is leading in some polls, an nbc news/"wall street journal" poll, and tied in a quinnipiac poll. so suddenly the race in ohio is significantly tighter than it had been before for trump. that's why you're seeing him hit back at kasich so hard. when it comes to violence, we've seen this escalating over the past month and a half or so. there's always been ongoing controversy and ongoing tensions at trump events. some events rowdier than others. but the last month and a half, it's been pretty sustained with protesters relentlessly trying to disrupt almost every single rally. donald trump is calling it an organized effort, that there are bernie sanders supporters. sometimes we are finding that they are bernie sanders supporters, but so far, there has not been a clear indication that this is overarching organized effort to disrupt every one of his rallies. so far, just individual protesters or individual groups of protesters who don't agree with his message, don't agree with the way that he's saying it, and want to take a stand. and they believe the best place to do so is within these rallies.

obviously, his supporters don't agree with that. they believe that what the protesters are trying to do is stop their free speech, essentially, stop their ability to support a candidate, their ability to hear a candidate that they happen to agree with. so the tensions have just been flaring on both sides here. donald trump doing very little to calm things down, instead, blaming all the tension on protesters. over the weekend, even saying that he would consider paying the legal bills for a man in fayetteville, north carolina, who sucker punched an african-american protester, and then went on to say that if he saw him again, he might kill him. so donald trump is now saying that he's going to consider paying the legal fees for this man, who was arrested and charged with hitting this other gentleman who was trying to leave. so instead of trying to calm these tensions, you can see donald trump with rhetoric like that, is certainly being accused of enflaming it. we've seen tensions all throughout the day, protests, and we're going to find out if

they're going to continue here in youngstown, ohio, in just a couple of hours. >> thanks so much, katy tur. let's go to nbc's kerry sanders at the tampa convention center, where donald trump's town hall just wrapped up. kerry, how'd it go there? >> reporter: well, it went for about an hour. governor chris christie and former governor sarah palin were here, along with the attorney general from the state of florida, who endorsed donald trump. as katy just noticed, there has been an increasing level of vitriol on the campaign, specifically people who are sort of confronting one another. and that happened outside. there was no violence here, but there was some interruptions. one just three minutes into donald trump's speech here. for those who have complained that donald trump seems to be encouraging people to be violent with those who are outspoken, listen to this moment with donald trump when the first woman stood up and tried to disrupt his speech. >> oh, that's okay.

don't hurt her. don't hurt her. don't hurt her. >> reporter: and so there you hear donald trump instructing those in the crowd not to touch her. the tampa police department escorted her out, and there were several other interruptions. each time those folks were escorted out of the room, because they were disrupting this event here. meantime, the donald trump supporters did get a full hour of donald trump, talking about, among other things, building the wall, which got a great response here. people started chanting, "build that wall," they chanted "usa" at one point. there's a general sense here among supporters, as you can imagine, but donald trump in general believes that he's going to carry the state in florida. he once again took on marco rubio, who is the senator from the state of florida. somebody who has popularity here, calling him little marco. and derisively referring to him. the polls indicate that donald trump will do well in the state. donald trump addressed not only

winning here, but also saying, he's hopeful he'll do well in ohio. remember, in both states, it's -- for the delegates, it's winner take all. chris? >> kerry sanders, thank you. and joining me now, molly ball, staff writer for "the atlantic" and also, thomas sink. this controversy has not effected the size of trump's crowds. you saw two of the events earlier this morning in north carolina. there were 1,300 people filling an arena, 200 to 300 more, overfill, were outside. so do we have a sense really now, if this is hurting him with voters or could it be helping him or won't we know until tomorrow? >> i don't think we'll know about the electorate at large until tomorrow. obviously, the people who go to trump's events are a small and sort of self-selected group who want to see him in person. they're very large crowds. certainly larger than any other candidate is getting. but this is going to be the hard-core people who, i think, are the least likely to be

affected by some sort of controversy involving donald trump. and we may, in fact, see them sort of galvanized by this level of conflict, that is being stoked here, and wanting to either see the spectacle with their own eyes, or maybe even get involved in the fray. >> and thomas, if you go to his rallies, and you actually write about this in your new book, many of the people i've talked to are just worried about their jobs, they're worried about the economy, and they actually will say, they're willing to set aside things that might make them uncomfortable, because they see him as a successful businessman who will create jobs. >> right, like mitt romney, i suppose. but, look, if you actually -- so, what i did, a couple weeks ago, when i was writing this essay about trump, i just watched a bunch of his speeches. and i was surprised to see that he spends the lion's share of his time in his speeches talking about the trade issue. you know, about nafta and the tpp, things like this. and you know, for people who live in the sort of deindustrialized zones of

america, the places where, you know, the wheels have really come off the economy, this is a message that's very powerful. you know, that really resonates for them. and i think if you want to understand how to beat donald trump, which, i assume, we all do, you're going to have to understand what motivates his supporters. what really motivates his supporters. that's, i think, the first step. >> so, if that's the first step, if you understand the motivation, where do you take it from there? because it's not for a lack of trying. millions of dollars have been poured into this. they're putting new ads out every day. they just put one out that sort of puts together all of the incendiary things he's said. what's the answer here? >> you know, see what i'm saying is, the problem is that the democrats over the years have become this party that doesn't seem to care about working people, you know? people remember, you know, with bill clinton, they remember nafta, therm the permanent normal trade relations with china, this whole series of, you

know, of trade agreements that we entered into in the 1990s, and now barack obama with the trans-pacific partnership. it just seems like the democrats have got themselves identified with the wrong side in this issue. they're not the party of working people anymore. it's going to be very tough for them to get back to that -- well, i should say it's going to be very tough. they've got two candidates, right? one candidate is talking about exactly what i'm saying right now and the other is scrambling to catch up. >> and we saw mitt romney out today. but a lot of, i guess, what you would call the republican establishment haven't had much to say about this, molly. they've been keeping quiet. is this kind of a case of the old says is, democrats fall in love, republicans fall in line? i mean, you wrote after super tuesday that the gop was a party at war. so if that was the case then, what is it now? >> i think it's absolutely still at war. i mean, this party the not falling into line the way we would expect them to in a normal

year. and that's because this is clearly an abnormal phenomenon, an abnormal candidacy, and an abnormal circumstance in donald trump. you have a large number of members of that republican establishment that you talk about, not falling into line at all. and in fact, resistance and division only deepening, at a time when there is a more or less prohibitive front-runner in this primary campaign. you would expect to see the endorsements coming out of the woodwork. you would expect to see the donors lining up, you would expect to see the consultants and lobbyists rushing to get on the bandwagon. instead, you have a lot of people who either would rather not discuss it at all, or who are joining this anti-trump movement and trying in sort of desperation and what's probably too little, too late, frantically trying to stop him or even to send the convention into a contested state, which would be absolute chaos. but that's what they're willing to risk, because they are so disturbed by trump's candidacy.

>> you know, we've talked all along, throughout this campaign, that donald trump has said and done things that might have ended the campaign of anyone else. and sometimes it's hard to keep track of all the strange things. at the first trump rally today, one of the people introducing him called on bernie sanders, who is jewish, to convert to christianity, and people barely blinked. what do we make of this, when you look at the big picture of where the republican party is, and where the electorate is. where do you put that? and what might it tell us about this very important vote tomorrow? >> there's many, many examples of this kind of petty intolerance, coming out of the trump campaign. and sometimes, not so betty, right? look, there's no question in my mind that this man should not be president of the united states, you know? but the problem is, how are democrats going to stop him, right? by the way, what molly was saying was very interesting about the republican party. with the republican party really just falling apart here.

here are these -- these trump supporters are these white working class voters, or by and large, that's who many of them are, who have, up until now, have got in line and have, you know, gone along with whoever the republican candidate is, even though the republican candidate doesn't say anything or help them out in any way. and all of a sudden, they've got somebody that seems to be taking their side on a couple of important issues. i mentioned trade before, and there's a couple of other ones. and it's going to be very hard for the republicans to put this back in the box, if you will, right? four years from now, somebody else is just going to do the same thing as donald trump. this is going to be very difficult for them to get back under control. >> it's going to be a very interesting day tomorrow. maybe the most interesting we've had in this entire campaign season. thomas frank and molly ball, thanks to both of you. >> thank you. still ahead, mitt romney, as we said, on the campaign trail with john kasich. a sign of support not for the governor so much, but for the anti-trump forces. and tonight, both democratic

candidates for president will participate in town hall events on msnbc. chuck todd is with bernie sanders at 6:00 eastern, followed by chris matthews, who moderates with hillary clinton at 7:00 p.m. eastern. catch them both right here on the place for politics, msnbc. we'll be right back. nutes or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimiteclean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. ♪ go, go, touchdown!, go... ♪ choir and harp music. this place, it's the best-kept secret in football since... hey, how did he get in here?! and with toe nail fungus! fight it! with jublia. jublia is a prescription medicine used to treat toenail fungus. use jublia as instructed by your doctor.

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we're back live in ohio, where governor john kasich is working down to the wire to stop donald trump in his home state. it is absolutely a must-win situation for kasich and he's been pulling out all the stops. earlier today, mitt romney campaigned with him in north canton, ohio. not an endorsement, but a significant move from the former

republican nominee, who reported robo calls for both kasich and rubio. for more, let me bring in nbc's peter alexander, who is following the kasich campaign from youngstown, ohio, and in 2012, spent probably 349 days with the mitt romney campaign. >> close. >> so give us a sense of the dynamic there. and does it feel like a campaign that could be either on its last legs or has the enthusiasm of someone who might live to run another day? >> well, chris. we've now moved on from youngstown to westerville. that's where governor romney and governor kasich will be together about two hours from now. their second stop together. romney's aides saying this isn't an endorsement, but he's still trying to lend his voice to this anti-trump effort, across the country. but it's notable that he's choosing to do it in ohio, as opposed to in florida, where marco rubio. kasich recognizes it's do or die in the state. he's popular here among republicans. 79% approval rating.

he's never lost a single race, either state or -- excuse me, local or statewide, with 12 victories. will it hold tomorrow? here's mitt romney, only a short time ago. >> and unlike the other people running, he has a real track record. he has the kind of record that you want in washington. and that's why i'm convinced that you're going to do the right thing tomorrow. agreed? >> reporter: as governor kasich likes to say, there are three lanes in this race. the outsider, or trump lane. the establishment lane, and then the kasich lane. clearly, romney is the establishment lane. and the kasich people say that will only help them. they need to win two lanes to defeat donald trump. i asked them about that very topic as well. take a listen. >> a lot of people are looking for something other than the standard that this party has set. has mitt romney's being with you help you or hurt the message? >> of course it helps he. look, i think sometimes -- i'm going to win ohio. it will be a whole new ball game

and you'll be traveling with me all over the country. we're going to go east and then we're going to hitch ourselves to a covered wagon and head to the mountains of the west. and it's going to be just so much fun. >> so he's definitely got that positive optimism that's helped the define his campaign at this point. he says he hopes he's made his family and the people of this state proud. the big issue that analysts talk to me about is the desire not just to prove that he's popular, but that he's viable. a lot of ohioans want to vote for someone they believe cannot just win the nomination, but win the white house. >> and i've got this visual of you in a covered wagon with john kasich, going west, young man. thank you so much, peter alexander. today also marks one of the most intense days of the campaign for bernie sanders, who's hitting five rallies in four states, including here in ohio. he actually started his day in youngstown, talking trade in that once-booming steel mill town, hit hard by the economy.

and as you saw, governor kasich came to youngstown, too, a place that loves sports. msnbc's tony due koem has been talking to young people about the race. >> i'm here in youngstown, ohio. that's josh back there. he's power washing a part of a locomotive engine. these parts behind me here, they'll soon be going back into a coal-fired power plant. if you look around, things are a little quieter than they should be. hours have been cut about 20% in a recent downturn in this area. unemployment is double what it is nationally. and i have two people here who care a lot about this issue. this is the founder of the factory. candidates on both sides of the aisle have come to youngstown to make their pitch for the working class vote. michael, you like john kasich, why do you think he's going to help you?

>> i've been a taxpayer for over 40-plus year, and i want to see some fiscal -- >> reporter: you want to see some fiscal responsibility? >> right, and some conservative values. >> he can't be promising things we can't afford just to get the votes. and that's what's happening with mr. bernie sanders. >> do you want to respond to that? >> we have a long-standing history in my family of voting republican and i find myself on the other side and i'm voting bernie sanders. and i think a lot of that has to do with where i've worked. i've worked abroad and i have come to value having access to a quality education, but also at the college level, access to universal health care and an improvement in jobs. and the u.s. is a great country. there's a lot of diversity, but i feel as though a lot of the candidates are creating increased division amongst the population at large, with discrimination on the ethnic, racial gender values. and for me, bernie sanders embodies a unification of america and americans helping

americans. >> are you convinced? >> one big question? who pays? that's what i want to know. >> michael, colleen, thank you very much. now, chris, the trump campaign called this repair shop ask fg they could hold an event here, trying to match john kasich with his industrial background, the owner, michael, said, no way. but some of the workers here say trump's their guy. >> fascinating stuff. thank you so much, tony. coming up, what does bernie sanders need to do to win the support of his party's the super delegates? he's about to take the stage in north carolina, just a few minutes from now. but first, this year ohio will not only play a critical role in presidential politics, but also in the fight for control of the u.s. senate. more on that, coming up. i've been on my feel all day. i'm bushed! yea me too. excuse me...coming through! ride the gel wave of comfort with dr. scholls massaging gel insoles. they're proven to give you comfort. which helps you feel more energized ...all day long. i want what he has. it's more than a nit's reliable uptime. and multi-layered security.

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a new bernie sanders ad has caught fire, going viral online over the past few days, approaching 3 million views. it's the very personal story of a man who went from extreme

poverty on the south side of chicago to becoming an award-winning teacher and principal. >> i saw that photograph of bernie sanders chained to a black woman, protesting segregation in the 1960s. that photograph tells me more about his willingness to fight for the rights of all people than anything any politician has ever said. being able to have a college education transformed mid view of what i could be in this world. it shouldn't just be a small group of people who get access to that kind of experience. every american, regardless of their income, should have access to a college education. >> joining me now from chicago is troy la ravier, the principal who was featured in sanders' ad. thanks so much for coming on with us. and the obvious question is, how did you come to do this ad for bernie sanders? >> well, i've been pretty active

in the chicago political scene. i've spoken out quite a bit on education policy. and so many of the progressive activists were familiar with me and my work. and many of those progressive activists are involved in the sanders' campaign, so -- >> you tell a very, very moving story about not going to college right out of high school because you didn't believe in yourself and how you became a teacher to help other people believe in themselves. so the appeal of bernie sanders' free college push makes sense, but i'm sure you know, critics say he hasn't really explained how he'll pay for it, and frankly, they say, we can't afford it. could this be a case of, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is? >> well, you know, my story is too good to be true. you know? who would have imagined that -- there was a piece in that story that i told in the interview that didn't make it into the final cut. you know, we talked for about 45 minutes. and, you know, i became -- my mother passed away. i talked about how my mother was

a -- basically, kicked out of her community, because of the color of my oldest brother. and, you know, about 50 years later, i found myself interviewing at a school on the north side, and as i was traveling to the interview, i realized that i was about to be the principal of this school. i had a realization. and you know, tears came to my eyes. and about a month later after the interview process ended, i was, indeed, hired to be the principal. and the thing that came to my realization was that 50 years ago, my mother had to leave this community because of the color of one of her sons, and 50 years later, another one of her sons was being brought back to this community, an all-white community, and being given one of the most important responsibilities you can give a person. and so having lived that life, it is difficult for me not to have faith. it is difficult for me to believe that we can't get over the challenges that we're faced

with. that we can't have free college for everyone. we can't make sure that college is accessible to everyone. that we can't make sure that everyone in this country has access to health care. having lived that life, and who would have thought that that would have happened 50 years ago. one would have had to have been a visionary. and bernie sanders is that kind of visionary, in my opinion. >> the timing of this ad is very important. you live in illinois, and it's a place where, like michigan, sanders could pull an upset. and the tightening race is one of the reasons we've seen hillary clinton and her husband there. she was, in fact, in chicago today, appealing to the african-american community. she says she's the answer for jobs for an improving economy. and as you know, i'm sure you've followed the campaign, that message has resonated very strongly in the african-american community. why do you think bernie sanders is the better choice? >> because bernie sanders focuses on the source of all of our problems. you can't solve any of the

problems if you see them as themselves the problems. they are symptoms of a larger problem. and the larger problem is bernie sanders has pointed out is an economy that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few. and the fact that those few then take that wealth and corrupt our political system to make it difficult for us to make changes that affect -- positively effect the lives of all people or a great majority of people. so you see that at play with jobs. you see that at play in health care. you see that at play with climate change. you see that source, you see that two-headed dragon at play, causing all of the problems, and then corrupting our political system to keep us from solving those problems. and so bernie sanders focuses on the source. and his opponent has actually said he puts too much emphasis on the source. how can you solve a problem when you distract people from the source of the problems, to keep their attentions on the -- the attention on the problem

themselves. and for my money, in my opinion, the way i've analyzed it, the only person who's actually looking at the source of the jobs crisis, the health care crisis, the climate change crisis, is bernie sanders. and his solution will actually tackle the source of the those problems, which will enable us to actually use our government, use our political system, to solve them. >> thank you so much. troy laliviere for being with us. >> it's a pleasure, chris, thank you. coming up, a man who knows a thing tor two about ohio politics, former governor and u.s. senate candidate, ted strickland. for a limited time, you can get a

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invited me. >> that was bernie sanders at an event in akron, ohio, earlier today, reiterating his call for hillary clinton to release transcripts from her highly paid wall street speeches. and joining me now, former ohio governor, current democratic candidate for u.s. senate, ted strickland, who is a hillary clinton supporter. so, it's good to have you. and i want to start with the presidential campaign, with everything that's on the line here tomorrow. do you think she should just release the transcripts? because if she doesn't, it could look like she's hiding something. >> you know, these are distractions. what we ought to be talking about, and what i've heard hillary talk about, is what she's going to do for education, jobs, her position on trade. you know, we've got two great candidates, and regardless of what happens tomorrow and eventually, in terms of our nominee, the democrats are in great shape. the republicans are disintegrating. and so, i think, you know, i

think i feel very confident that hillary will do well in ohio and will eventually be our nominee. but the republicans have a mess on their hands. and they're going to pay a price for it in november. >> you did break up trade. this is one of the places where the everyday voter, when i talk to them, often brings up trade. and bernie sanders had some pretty harsh words for clinton on that. let me play it. >> what it came down to, whether you stand with corporate america, the people who wrote these agreements, or whether you stand with the working people of this country, i proudly stood with the workers, secretary clinton stood with the big money interests. >> you've slammed nafta in your senate campaign, saying it cost ohio thousands of dollars. so, for you, why hillary clinton? >> well, hillary clinton did not

vote for or against nafta. she did vote against cafta, when she was actually a senator and had the opportunity to vote. she's opposing the tpp, and she's laid out an aggressive plan to bring back manufacturing to ohio and to america. senator sherrod brown, who, you know, who is leading the fight against the tpp, is endorsing secretary clinton. so, you know, i think, you know, i think this is a bunch ado about nothing. and i think the secretary has laid out her plans for job creation, for supporting manufacturing, for punishing companies that send jobs offshore. and so, as i said, she and bernie sanders are very close on all of the important issues, and regardless of which one emerges as the ultimate winner, and i hope that's going to be hillary, the democrats are going to be in great shape throughout the

summer and going into november, and we're going to win this election, win the presidency, recapture the senate, and save the supreme court, from being radicalized by a republican president and a republican-dominated is senate. that's how i feel. i feel very positive about democrats and where we are in this campaign season. >> let me ask you about john kasich, because he unseated you as governor. and a new poll shows that he's neck and neck here in ohio. do you think he'd be preferable to donald trump? >> anybody would be preferable to donald trump, certainly. i know, i know governor kasich very well. he's a politically talented guy. he's making some exaggerated claims. i gave him a recovering economy when he became governor, and he's -- he's balanced his budget on the backs of schools and local governments, police and fire. but if he continues to stay in this race, at some point, he

will be properly vetted by the national media, and they will find out that many of the things that he's saying is only tang t tangentially accurate and an exaggeration in many cases. but let me say to you, when you governor kasich to ted cruz or donald trump, you know, he would be much preferable, in my judgment, to be the president of the united states. >> there's an analysis that on the democratic side, bernie sanders' success has forced hillary clinton to move to the left. you have a primary tomorrow. you're facing your own challenge, from the left. i'm wondering what you make of the state of the democratic party. are you concerned at all about that perception of it moving to the left? and what it might mean, not just for the presidency, but you brought this up, being able to take back control of the senate. >> well, just let me say that i'm a progressive. i'm really happy that we had two strong progressives, as our

presidential candidates. i want this country to move in a progressive direction. i want us to have affordable college. i want us to have pay equity for women. i want us to have an increase in the minimum wage. i want us to stand up for labor rights and union rights, and both of our candidates are speaking that language. both candidates are opposed to trade deals now, that send jobs offshore. so the democratic party is a progressive party. we have embraced the progressive agenda. we're for marriage equality. we're for an inclusive comprehensive immigration reform policy. and i'm very proud of where democrats are today and i think we are exactly where we ought to be on the major issues facing america. the republicans are disintegr e disintegrating. we actually have elected republican officials in ohio who are saying that they cannot vote for donald trump, if he becomes the nominee of their party.

not the same case in the democratic party. we will embrace either of these candidates, because both of them are good, strong progressives. and we have a lot to celebrate in the democratic party. >> ted strickland, it's good to talk to you. thank you so much for taking the time. >> it's great talking to you. thank you. and remember, you can catch both democratic candidates tonight, right here on msnbc. first, bernie sanders' town hall, moderated by chuck todd at 6:00 eastern. at 7:00 p.m. eastern, msnbc's chris matthews sits down with hillary clinton. you can see it only on msnbc. and still ahead, the one thing that would prevent drooted cruzm supporting donald trump for president. at safelite, we know how busy your life can be. oh no this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there. so she didn't miss a single shot.

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we're back live in cleveland, ohio, and the final sprint is on before tomorrow's primaries. where the candidates go tell us what's important to any given campaign, and ted cruz has been working his way through illinois, making five stops there with 69 delegates at stake. nbc's hallie jackson joins me now from the trail in glen ellen, illinois, where the senator held an event this afternoon. and what's the strategy here with all these events there? >> the idea, chris, is to drill down by congressional district. remember that illinois is a proportional state, so there are delegates at stake when you get down to the really microlevel. that's what the campaign is hoping to do.

peel off enough delegates to keep it close when it comes to the count with donald trump. and donald trump was the topic of conversation this morning, when ted cruz spoke with reporters. listen. >> well, i can give you one example, where i would no longer support donald trump. if, for example, he were to go out on fifth avenue and shoot somebody, i would not be willing to support donald trump. that is a question the voters are asking. at what point do we say, enough is enough? if donald trump is the nominee, he is a disaster. and the answer is to beat him. >> yet you -- >> which is what -- well, i know it is a shocking concept -- >> it's not shocking -- >> -- to members of the media, a shocking concept that an elected official actually does what he said. at the outset of this campaign, i committed i will support the republican nominee and i honor my word. >> but is that -- >> -- and if honoring your word means you actually honor your word. >> so ted cruz talking about the pledge that he made to support

whomever the ultimate nominee is. kind of tongue and cheek with that fifth avenue comment, and when pressed, he said it's up to voters to decide when enough is enough. cruz reiterating he has made a pledge and he'll stick to it. chris? >> thank you so much, hallie jackson on the trail with ted cruz. now let's go to kate rogers, who has the cnbc market wrap. >> markets closing mixed today if dow is up 16 points, the s&p fell 3, and the nasdaq climbed two points. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. the shag ca. ...and his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. luckily jack recently had geico help him with renters insurance. because all his belongings went up in flames. jack got full replacement and now has new pants he ordered from banana republic. visit geico.com and see how affordable renters insurance can be. go, go, touchdown!, go...

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hey kevin. hey, fancy seeing you here. uh, i live right over there actually. you've been to my place. no, i wasn't...oh look, you dropped something. it's your resume with a 20 dollar bill taped to it. that's weird. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer. i'm gonna need monday off. again, not my call. we're back here live at the urban farmer in downtown cleveland, a city on the

comeback. hip new neighborhoods, a thriving restaurant scene, lebron, and the rock hall of fame. but at its heart, this is still an old school democraticette neck stronghold, where political arguments are not uncommon over lunch or dinner. i know, i grew up not far from here. >> if you want to understand the traditional cleveland voter, you have to understand ethnic food. and when you say ethnic food, that means the west side market. everywhere you look, polish, hungarian, italian, since i was a little girl, i've been coming to rita's, where they have the filling for the traditional hungarian pastry. is there a place in the world to buy better apricot filling? >> probably not. >> number two, what do you think of the presidential election? >> well, i mean, i'm pro-trump. he's bernie sanders. so, and we're best friends, and it's hard. >> we agree to disagree. >> i don't know yet. it's a wait and see kind of

thing. i keep waiting for somebody to come up i want to vote for. >> not even your governor? >> especially not our governor. >> oh, why? what is it you don't like -- >> my daughter's a teacher and i think he's done a terrible job with education in the state of ohio. >> probably not donald trump. >> who you going to vote for on tuesday. >> hillary. >> why? >> because i really like her and i like her political stance and her stance on the middle east and i just think she'll do a better job than some of our other people. >> are you going to vote tuesday? for? >> hillary. >> why? >> same reason. i think she would be great, since she was secretary of state, i think she would handle the presidency real well. are. >> when i say donald trump, what comes to your mind? >> scary. >> violent. a lot of crazy talk. a lot of crazy talk. >> yeah. >> what are you buying today, more importantly. >> lamb. >> and i'm coming to what address for dinner tonight? >> i like donald trump. that's -- >> why? >> i just like what he has to

say. not too much to get into it, but i like donald trump. >> and our thanks to the folks at the west side market. joining me now, the host of msnbc's "the last word," lawrence o'donnell. you know, lawrence, i don't know how many states i've been through, probably a dozen of them in this primary period. and what i found today at the west side market pretty much reflects what i found throughout the country. donald trump, you love him or you hate him. and the people who love him are sticking by him, no matter what. the people who don't like him make faces, they say they're afraid of him. what do you make of what's going on with this electorate? >> nothing less than the collapse of civilization, right before our eyes. on one side, anyway. what we're looking at is a very significant portion of america losing its grip on reality. its understanding of what reality is. and this has been going on for decades. and reality tv, naturally, has

played a very significant part. and what reality tv does is it tends to take the kinds of human behavior that we would normally condemn, you know, like honey boo-boo's mother trying to basically destroy her child's life with the worst kind of possible values, and reality tv says, hey, look at it from this angle. isn't it funny? and we laugh at it. and donald trump played a reality character on tv, where he was the worst person in the real world, the person who fires people. there's nobody who's hated more in america than the person who fires people. but in reality tv, they just shift that angle a little bit and they say, hey, look at that. isn't that funny? and america laughs at that. and over decades now, america is losing its grip on what reality is, where it begins and ends, and here you see this reality tv star out there, who tells a lie, you know, every two minutes, at least, and none of that is held

against him, because it's fun. people were taught to have fun watching him on the fake reality show he was doing. and that fun is carrying over into this. >> let me play -- look, all of the candidates on both sides, democrats and republicans, have pretty much had something negative to say about what we've seen over the last 72 hours or so and the violence at these various events. let me play for you some of what marco rubio said today. >> it's not about chicago, this is about the broader scope of this campaign, where his campaign manager [ inaudible ] assaulting -- where he has openly mused about how great it would be if the protesters were carried out on stretchers and how he's going to pay for their legal fees when they assault somebody. it's about a campaign that has offended women, offended minorities, offended a disabled reporter. i mean, used profanity repeatedly from behind the microphone.

i mean, the discourse of our elections has become [ inaudible ]. >> and we've also seen, as you know, besides this criticism, millions and millions of dollars bumped into anti-trump advertising by people who consider themselves strong republicans, who believe that the republican party and its future are at stake. what do you think, lawrence, the results tomorrow are going to tell us about the republican party, and also about this country? >> well, look, there's serious discussion within the republican party, by thought leaders in the republican party, whether there will even be, in any real sense, a republican party by midnight, tomorrow night. that could be the end of it. you could be watching the end of lincoln's party tomorrow night. donald trump has to be remembered, the republican party is a small -- it's a seniority operation, just like the democratic party. the republican party is about 28% of america. that's all it is. it used to be much bigger, but

that's all it is. and donald trump has yet to command even half of that. >> lawrence o'donnell, we'll see you tonight on "the last word." thank you so much. >> thanks, chris. >> that's going to do it for this hour. i'm chris jansing coming to you live from the urban farmer's steakhouse in downtown cleveland. "mtp daily" with steve kornacki starts now. if it's monday, it's the mother of all make or break moments in the state that calls itself the mother of presidents. ohio. could the buckeye state's own governor keep donald trump from steamrolling to the republican nomination? john kasich has yet to win a single primary, but, just one win in his home state could turn this race into chaos. this is "mtp daily" and it starts right now.